No. 6 UNC men's lacrosse uses big first quarter to surge past Hofstra

Head coach Joe Breschi had one word to describe his team’s performance against Hofstra. 

“Wow.” 

The Tar Heels dominated every facet of the game against the Pride. 

No. 6 UNC barreled past Hofstra, 18-7, on Saturday afternoon behind a strong first-quarter performance. North Carolina came out of the gate strong and rode that wave until the final buzzer sounded. The Tar Heels put 10 past Hofstra in the first quarter alone — the most they've scored in a quarter this season. 

After a loss in the waning seconds to Princeton last week, UNC knew they needed to start with extra juice. 

Graduate midfielder Spencer Wirtheim said that the days in practice after the loss were intense and challenging. But to right the ship, they knew what they had to do. 

“We came out with our hair on fire,” Wirtheim said. 

And they capitalized. Just over four minutes into the game, the Tar Heels had already scored three goals. 

The first goal came from sophomore attackman Owen Duffy, who weaved through the Pride defense to reach the goal and came tumbling down onto the grass as his shot flew past the goalkeeper. 

Not even a minute later, senior midfielder Ryan Levy found first-year attackman Mason Szewczyk just outside the crease. 2-0 UNC. 

Still, the Tar Heels weren’t satisfied. Their third goal in three minutes came from wide open senior midfielder Ty English off an assist from sophomore midfielder Andrew Preis. 

“That’s what they wanted,” Breschi said. “To put their foot on their throat and twist.” 

While the offense got off to a hot start, they weren't the only unit dominating Hofstra. UNC’s face-off squad, spearheaded by sophomore Brady Wambach, gained an 11-1 advantage on the Pride, limiting their possessions to only one in the opening frame. 

Hofstra’s one possession and two shots resulted in their only goal of the quarter. This didn’t phase North Carolina much, though, as the Tar Heels then surged to score seven unanswered goals in the quarter. 

“We just came off angry,” Duffy said. “[We] really wanted to turn it around. And I think we did.”

After a dominant first-quarter and start to the second quarter – a 3-0 run for UNC – the defense began to let up. Hofstra scored three goals in the final minutes of the half. 

At halftime, every player was under the same impression: 

“We didn't want to give them any life back into that game,” Wirtheim said. 

While the Pride showed a few one-off moments of offensive connection, scoring three goals in the second half, it wasn't enough to bring them back into contention with UNC’s relentless attack. 

Even though they had an established lead to fall back on, UNC’s offense sparked again in the fourth frame. Three more goals powered UNC to 18, the most they’ve scored in a game all season. UNC’s 12 assists also set a season-high. 

“You never know what can happen,” Wirtheim said. “So you’ve got to keep your foot on the pedal and keep going.” 

Wirtheim, who scored his first goal as a Tar Heel, finished the game with a goal and two assists. Duffy notched two goals and four assists. 

After a last-minute collapse last week, the hot start was all UNC needed to get back in the win column.

“I don't think anybody in that locker room likes to lose,” Breschi said. “We responded really well, practiced really hard and competed.” 

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